Braiding-machine spindle.



No. 738,383.' PATBNTED SEPT. a, 1903.

L. W. WHITEHEAD. BRAIDING MACHINE SPINDLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY13, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

I I I I I E I UNITED STATES Patented September 8, 1903.

P TENT OFFIC BRAlDlNG-MACHINE SPINDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,383, dated September 8, 1903.

Application filed May 13,1902

To aZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS WOLFENDEN WHITEHEAD, a subject of the King df Great Britain, and a resident of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Braiding- Machine Spindles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to braiding machines; and its objects are to provide means whereby the tension of the threads or wires can be more efiectively and conveniently regulated, whereby sudden strains are taken up by springs, whereby the weight of the moving parts is reduced and the stop-motion is simplified.

Each of the spindles of a braiding-machine in which the present improvements are embodied comprises a hollow tube, at the upper end of which a bracket is .fixed to carryjthe bobbin or cheese, and a vertical part carrying a fixed thread-guide, a tension device, a second thread-guide attached to the ordinary stop-motion rod, and stops for limiting the motion of the second thread-guide.

I will describe my improvements with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a sectional side eleva tion; Fig. 2, an elevation at right angles to Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a cross-section of the tension device of a braiding-machine spindle constructed to embody my invention.

As shown by the drawings, the spindle comprises the hollow tube 6, on the upper part of which there are fixed a horizontal bracket 19 and a vertical limb o. The bracket '2) has fixed in it a spindle or vertical rod 1",

on which is placed a bobbin or cheese at, on which the yarn, thread, or wire to be used in braiding is wound. A fixed thread-guide g on the vertical limb o is used optionally, with the object of insuring that the thread or wire from the bobbin shall pass always in the same direction to the tension device on the limb o. This tension device, as illustrated in the drawings, is'well known, and consists of two parallel disks with divergent edges, pressed into close contact by means of nuts '11 on a screwed spindle. A spiral spring and a washer b are interposed between the nut and the plates to permit the latter to yield Serial No. 107,055. (No model.)

slightly. This tension device may, however, be substituted by any other equivalent known device. The stop-rod s is contained within the tube 15 and operates to stop the mechanism when the rod falls exactly as in existing braiding-machines. The upper end of the rod passes through the partially-closed upper end of the tube t, outside which it is fitted with a thread-guide g, which is provided with a projecting part a, capable of working in the slot 6, formed in the part 2), so that the motion of the thread-guide is limited upward and downward by the length of the slot. The ends of the slot, therefore, act as stops and may naturally be substituted by pegs or other stops.

Toward the lower end of the stop-rod 3 there is a weight or projection f, between which and the partially-closed upper end of the tube there is coiled around the rod a spiral spring h, which is shorter than the distance found between f and the top closure 7; when the machine is not working.

At the top of the part o there is shown a third thread-guide, which, as shown, may be formed by a hole through the returned part j, but which may be otherwise formed.

The thread or wire 7c passes from the bobbin a, or the cheese used in place of it, under the thread-guide g, when this guide is used, to the tension device 19, thence to the stoprod guide g and through the guide j, or direct to the braiding-point of the machine. The tension set up in the thread on the starting of the machine pulls up the stop-motion rods freely until the spring h commences to be compressed between f and 't', after which the upward movement of the stop-rod is increasingly resisted by the spring. In this condition the tension on the thread or wire is maintained practically constant notwithstanding the alternate movements of the spindle toward and away from the axis of the machine,

In the event of the breakage of a thread 7c the stop-rod ceases to be supported and drops, thus putting the stop-motion into action precisely as in existing machines.

What I claim as my invention, and what I desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A braiding-machine spindle consisting of a vertical tube open at its lower end and with an axial opening at its upper end, a bracket upon which the wound yarn or wire is carried, a vertical arm extending from the upper part of the tube, a fixed thread-guide at about the center of the arm, a tension device on the arm, a stop-rod contained Within the tube and having a projection near its lower end, a spring intercalated between the projection and the axial opening in the top of the tube, and a fixed thread-guide at the upper part of the arm, substantially as set forth.

2. A braiding-machine spindle consisting of a vertical tube open at its lower end and with an axial opening at its upper'end, a 

